Gepanzerten Hornissen
by Karl the Artillery Piece
Summary: After nearly drowning in a tankery accident, Maya Nagase moves to America away from her parents. She must adapt to this new foreign environment, speaking little to no English. Her parents moved her to keep her away from tanks, but she finds a way to enjoy tanks again. Maya joins the school's Battle Team and joins them in their quest to the Wargaming League Championship in Warsaw
1. Chapter 1

It was raining that day. The column of vehicles was moving up a treacherous road, a sharp cliff just a few centimeters away. A lone Panzer III trudged behind a fellow tank near the rear of the column. Suddenly, there was a great flash and a deafening bang as lighting struck somewhere. The earth moved underneath the Panzer III's tracks and, before the crew knew what was happening, the road collapsed. Earth, mud, and tree branches rolled down the cliff, carrying the Panzer III with it. The tank plunged into the raging river below. Water rushed into the crew compartment, the crew screaming in fear as they desperately tried to get out. The gunner managed to kick one of the side turret hatches open, but this caused more water to stream in. The commander and loader managed to swim out through the open hatch. The driver managed to kick her own hatch open and swim out, pulling the unconscious radio operator. But the gunner remained in the vehicle.

She did not have the energy to swim out through the hatch she just opened. Everything around her appeared as a simple haze. The water grew darker and darker. She thought she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, but it must have been an illusion. Right?

XXXXX

Maya Nagase woke up at the normal time in the normal situation. Half asleep from jet-lag and unexcited. It was around five in the morning. She had practiced waking up early so that she would not fall asleep in class when school starts. The jet-lag was not helping. She got up and took a shower to wash away her drowsiness. Once she ate her breakfast, she went back and grabbed her toothbrush. The scrubbing of the brush on her teeth barely permeated through the room.

She lived alone.

Property tax and such was handled by her parents back in Japan. Maya got an allowance every month, allowing her to buy her own food and such. Black Forest Peak Girl's High School had a high tuition fee. It was not something she had to worry about now, though. Today was the first day of her new school. Maya changed into something more suitable for school. She was used to wearing a uniform, seems to be a common thing in Japanese high schools, but now she wears a long sleeve shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

Very unusual for a Japanese school girl going to school.

As she opened the front door of her apartment, she could see the building that would be her new school indefinitely.

Maya sighed.

Her English was still relatively crap. Maya only knew some basic phrases and such. Her parents said that the school will have a translator with her for most of the year, but he would not be back until summer break ended.

Maya lay back onto her bed, taking a short snooze before another alarm woke her up. Now it was around seven. The school was bustling with activity. She picked up her backpack and walked out of the door.

XXXXX

Maya entered room 587, which would be her homeroom for the duration of her stay in America. The individual desks had names on them, probably so that the occupants know where to sit. She found her seat, which had her name written in Japanese (長勢麻耶) as well as in English. The remaining students streamed into the room. Maya sighed, and took out her schedule. It seemed that majority of her classes were dominated by ESL (English as a Second Language) classes with Algebra 3/Trigonometry and Programing Honors mixed in, as well as some other classes that she did not care about. It seemed that her entire schedule had Japanese subtitles written under each subject.

The bell rang and she went to her first class. It was an ESL class, nothing special. Then she went to the Alg3/Trig class. Apparently there was no assigned seats. She could tell by how the teacher's seating chart was blank. After she sat down, the next to her clattered. She jumped slightly, not expecting anyone to voluntarily sit next to her. The Asian boy next to her had black hair and was wearing a red sweater and jeans. He nodded in her direction, a smile on his face. Maya replied with a small bow of her head.

The teacher said something, possibly an introduction, and began passing out papers. Maya pulled out a folder, designated for Alg3/Trig, ready to put the paper in the folder. The boy seemed to raise an eyebrow at the folder. He quickly took a scrap of paper and wrote something on it. The paper appeared on Maya's desk a second later.

"Japanese?" was the only thing written on the paper. In English. At least it was a simple word she understood. Maya nodded.

The boy then pulled out a paper from his own folder and handed it to Maya. The paper was titled "Curriculum." It was typed in Japanese.

"I guess you're the new transfer student," the boy said. The rest of the class was chattering randomly now, waiting for the bell to ring.

Maya jumped slightly at the boy's sudden use of Japanese.

"I… um…" The boy chuckled.

"Surprised?" he asked. "The guidance office did tell me that they would ask me to translate and such if a transfer student from Japan ever came here. Never expected it to actually happen, though."

The bell rang.

The boy got out of his seat and picked up his backpack. The backpack was a blue L.L. Bean backpack with three Omamori charms dangling from the zipper handles. The boy turned back to Maya and held out his hand.

"I'm Karl Ogawa. I'll be your translator for this year, maybe even next year. Nice to meet you."

Maya took a second to realize he extended hand was for a handshake and not for any other purpose. Any sort of accusation of perversion disappeared at that moment.

Maya smiled. She shook Karl's hand.

"I'm Maya Nagase. Nice to meet you."

* * *

Author's notes: Hey yall! It's Karl the Arty. Bout time I jumped on the bandwagon and started my Girls und Panzer fanfic. Also about time that I change the number of GuP x WoT crossovers from one to two. Most character names have a meaning which will be illustrated in the last chapter. Most schools mentioned are real locations, and most of my knowledge of these schools are based on their stereotypes. They are not made to offend said schools.

Also there is a possibility of a number of Youtubers (including myself) to make an appearance. You have been warned.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the show! Panzer vor!

Please review and such. It motivates me to write more.


	2. Chapter 2

Maya walked over to her seat in her Period 4 study hall. She sat down and sighed. Next period would be physics. She did not like physics and the fact that she might have to endure the whole class with a bombardment of English. After a short period of time, the bell finally rang. Maya was not exactly excited. During the study hall she found that her physics class was an AP class (it was AP in name only: it was more like an honors class) and her Programming one was AP as well.

Why did she sign up for this…?

"Hey, Nagase!" Maya looked up in surprise. Up ahead she found Karl waving to her.

"Same physics class, right?" Karl was standing next to a room. Inside was a model roller coaster.

"Room number 319," Maya said to herself. "Yeah, same class." She couldn't help but smile at having at least one friend.

The two sat down next to each other as the teacher passed out the syllabus. Karl handed Maya a copy written in Japanese and pointed to one of the lines.

"You'll probably ace this one," he said. Maya shifted her eyes to the line he was pointing at.

"Armor Penetration and Angling."

Maya smiled. Maybe she did not have to worry about this class.

XXXXX

The next class was AP Computer Science. Karl tagged along with her, as he happened to have the same class. There was not much to see here.

XXXXX

Lunch was rather uneventful. Because this was the first day of school, no lunch was served. Maya sat alone and bored at one of the lunch tables. She looked back at where Karl was sitting. He was playing cards with his friends. His friends were laughing, wide grins on their faces as they watched everyone else's faces slowly turn into looks of fear as they realized they were about to lose.

Karl threw his remaining cards onto the middle of the table.

"I win. " he said in English. He then pulled out a laptop from his backpack.

"You're not playing?" one of his friends asked.

"Nah, I got other things to do."

Karl plugged in his headphones as his laptop booted up.

There were a series of clicks and the clattering of the keyboard. Maya thought about joining them, but she decided to simply take a nap. Jet lag is a very annoying thing.

XXXXX

Karl was having a dilemma. His mouse hovered over three tanks. One was medium. The other two were lights.

"Coby," he began. "Which tank?" His friend, Coby, peered over the screen.

"A T-44, Chaffee, or an AMX 12t…" Coby thought about it for a while.

"Use the stronk tank," he said. Karl sighed.

"T-44 it is." Before he could click on the icon however, the bell rang.

"Typical," Karl complained. "Just typical."

As the massive mob of students trudged their way through the overcrowded hallway, Karl turned to Coby.

"Hey did you hear?" he asked. "There's going to be a school that is coming over to help us out with our exhibition match." Coby perked his ears up.

"Really?" he said. "Who?"

"No idea," Karl replied. "Still, I'll make sure you guys are trained up good to face them." Karl had a mischievous sneer on his face.

"This is going to be fun."

XXXXX

The second day of school was uneventful. Classes went by, study halls went by, and everything went by in a blur. Maya sat in her chair during physics class, trying to make sense of the worksheet in front of her. She looked up at the clock. The class was about to end. She slid the worksheet into her folder and sat around for a few seconds before the bell finally rang.

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

A piece of paper slid off the top of her head. Maya jumped a little bit in surprise before realizing that it was indeed simply a piece of paper.

She looked around to identify who exactly placed the paper on top of her head and, for a second, thought she saw Karl look over with a slight grin on his face.

Curious, Maya took a look at the paper in front of her. It read:

 _ **HORNETS!**_

 _ **The first annual inter-scholar Wargaming League is upon us! The time has come to prove yourselves!**_

 _ **ENLIST IN THE NEWLY FORMED BATTLE CLUB!**_

 _ **PANZER VOR!**_

Maya read paper with an ever so slightly depressed face. Flashes of cold rushing water, suffocation, and being trapped in a tank turret floated up into her mind. She walked out of the room, stuffing the paper into her bag. She walked into her study hall (AP Com-Sci was every other day) and sat down in her seat.

She took another peek at the paper in question. Maya just noticed the logo underneath the words. There was a green and gold capital E and a Panzer VIII Maus.

An E and a Maus.

E-Maus.

Emaus.

Emmaus High School. (This is a real place! Look it up!)

The puns.

Maya let out a frustrated sigh at the pun that she just noticed. The smile on her face was now even more noticeable.

XXXXX

By the time school ended, Maya decided to walk to the room where the Battle Club was said to be located. There was a mediocre-sized crowd in front of the room. Out of curiosity, she walked over to ask one of the people crowding the door what was going on.

Then she remembered her English sucked.

Maya then tried poking over the heads of the people in the crowd. As she observed for a second, she felt her lips slowly curve into a nostalgic smile.

The room was filled with computers but only five of them were occupied. There was a random student sitting at each computer with a student wearing a Battle Club armband standing over them. One of the students wearing the armband was Karl. He was giving instructions to a boy sitting at the computer, who seemed to be stressing. Karl, after looking at the screen for a moment, jotted down some notes.

After a while, the boy threw his hands up in defeat and pulls a pair of headphones off his head.

Karl said something to the boy in English, gave a light pat on his shoulder, then sent him away.

"Is that all of them?" Karl asked. One of the other Battle Club members looked up. They too had just finished up with some of the other students.

"We got one left," the member said. He pointed in the direction of Maya. She jumped at this.

"Um… Wait! Um…"

Karl raised his eyebrows in curiosity. Then, with a smile, he pointed at the computer next to him with his thumb.

"Want to try?" he asked. Maya walked over to where the computer was and took a look at the school.

"You know how to play World of Tanks?" asked Karl, his small smile slowly growing into a grin.

Maya's lips had by this time become a full smile. She sat down, selected the first German tank she found (a Panzer III) and clicked on the battle button.

One of the Battle Club members walked up to Karl and tapped on his shoulder.

"You sure she knows what she is doing?" he asked.

"She'll be fine," Karl replied. "And besides…" He looked over at the screen. The countdown to the battle's beginning had neared zero.

"It's just a game, right?"

The countdown hit zero.

Maya took a moment to type something into the chat box before hitting the W key and moving forward. The other club members smiled when they saw what she typed.

"Panzer Vor!"

* * *

Author's notes: Hey guys! It's Karl the Arty. I'm back with an update to mah GuP und WoT fic (that should be the new title XD ). I would like to take this time to notify anyone that this is a work of fiction and all names and locations are simply based on reality. Thank you.

And with that, I hope that I'll see you all in the next chapter. (I will also add that if you read my Kancolle fanfic, you might know the ending of this story. Don't spoil it for everyone.)

Please review. It keeps me motivated.

-Karl


	3. Chapter 3

Karl sat in the middle of the room, his back turned to the door. His head bobbing up and down to a beat as he listened to music through his earphones.

"Itsuka ki mi~ni sasageta uta~ ima ja kanashii deke no ai no uta~ *humming*"

About two months had passed since the school year started. The battle team's training continued smoothly. Maya's skill had advanced to the point Karl was sure she could be a good second-in-command. She was moving up the tiers rather quickly, as she already possessed on tier seven vehicle.

Maya heard the singing coming out of one of the practice rooms near the band room. It was faint, sure, but was definitely there.

The singing sounded fairly average to her, like the person was simply singing for fun. Not that that was a bad thing.

The bell rang.

When Karl walked out of the practice room, he was greeted by some quiet applause. He wheeled around in embarrassment.

"You were listening!?" he exclaimed. His face turned a deeper shade of red when he noticed it was Maya who had been listening.

"Sure I was," Maya replied. "It sounded decent."

Karl sighed.

"Nah, not really," he replied. "My singing sounds pretty monotone."

Maya knew what he meant, but pretended to not exactly understand.

"It didn't sound too bad," she countered. Karl sighed and showed her his phone.

"A certain aspiring singer told me so," he said. "I've been trying to improve since."

Karl expected a response, but none came. He noticed Maya staring intently at the screen, her eyes slowly widening.

"Hey…" Karl waved his hand in front of Maya's face. "You okay?"

"You…" Maya's eyes widened even further. "You're friends with Tune!?"

Karl jumped in surprise.

"Uh, no," he replied. "I just like her singing." Maya frowned.

"Oh…"

"…Are you a fan or something?" Karl asked. Maya's face brightened.

"Yeah! I am!" Karl smiled. Then he looked at his watch.

"You better get going," he said. "Ninth period is almost starting."

Karl walked away from her before turning around.

"Why are you here, anyway?" he asked. Maya blinked in response.

"Oh, I'm here to see Mister… um…" She hesitated.

"…The band teacher," Maya finished. Karl sighed.

"H-dog is over there," Karl said as he pointed towards the door behind him.

"H-dog…?" Maya said confused. Karl shook his head.

"It's a marching band thing. Don't worry about it," he replied.

Karl walked into the band room while Maya walked into the band teacher's office. When she walked in, the teacher turned around and smiled.

"Oh, hello," said he. "You must be Miss Nagase?" Maya nodded in response. Fortunately, her English had improved over the past month or two, so her guidance counselor began to allow Maya to take some classes other than ESL.

"I'm Mr. Harrington. I'm in charge of all band-related programs."

Maya waited as Harrington reached down for a blue folder and a green folder. He handed both folders to Maya.

"The blue folder has music for concerts and competitions and the green one has easier middle school crap for playing in front of a bunch of old people," Harrington said. Maya, though slightly confused by his description, nodded in response.

"Right." Harrington clapped his hands. "Do you have your instrument here?"

"I was told I did not need it today," Maya replied in English. Harrington nodded in response.

"Well, pretend it's a study hall then," he said. Then he walked out his office into the band room.

The disorganized noise in the band room made Maya think she would lose her hearing at first, but Harrington silenced everyone. He looked through the blue folder he was holding and mumbled something. Then he closed the folder shut.

"I don't feel like doing anything today," Harrington said, to which everyone laughed. "Sectionals!"

Everyone got up, except the rhythm section, and moved towards their respective sectional locations.

"Hey trombones!" one of the trumpet players exclaimed. "You're with us today!" One of the trombones, a short blonde girl, grumbled in complaint.

Maya brought out her homework she needed to finish. She sighed as she stared at her AP Computer Science notebook.

"Why does this have to be so hard…" she muttered to herself. "It's not like I need to program a computer when I grow up or anything…"

"You might need to program an automatic targeting and guidance system later in your life," a voice said. Maya nodded.

"Yeah, maybe…" she said. Then she realized she was not talking to herself. She jumped a centimeter or two into the air before looking up.

"Did I scare you that much?" Karl asked. Maya sighed in relief.

"Yes," she playfully slapped Karl's forehead with her notebook. "You did."

Karl chuckled nervously as he played around with the Baritone Saxophone hanging from his neck. A voice called for him from across the hallway.

"Oops," he said. "Got to go! Remember, next Saturday is the practice match! Ready!?"

Maya nodded, her lips slowly curling into a smile.

"Always."

XXXXX

The Japanese Language School of Philadelphia was founded in 1972 as a non-profit organization recognized by the State of Pennsylvania. Its Battle Club predates the rest of the US by around two years.

XXXXX

The day before the practice match, Maya walked into her apartment, dropped her bags, dropped onto her bed, and sighed. Philadelphia was around an hour away by car.

And Maya didn't have a car.

She tossed an instant dinner into her microwave and sat around as it cooked.

Maybe this was not for her at all.

Maya assumed that there would be school transportation to Philadelphia, but she was wrong. Because this was a practice match, such transportation would not be provided.

"What in the world am I doing…" she said to herself. The flashes of her Panzer III sinking into the river resurfaced.

"Nope," Maya said. "Let's do something productive."

She grabbed her violin, some sheet music, and a microphone. Maya's laptop flashed to life as she plugged in her recording equipment. She grabbed her headphones, shaped in the fashion of World War II era headphones, and placed them over her ears.

Maya clicked on a red button on her laptop's screen.

 _"Find a reason to sing,_ _君に逢いたい～、歌うこと教えてくれた君に～。"_

The phone rang.

Maya tore off her headphones and ran towards the phone. In her hurriedness she knocked the headphones out of the laptop's headphone jack. The background instrumental part of the song she was singing rang out through the room.

"Hello?" Maya answered. There was a brief pause.

"Hey," a voice replied. "You doing okay?"

Maya giggled.

"'Course I am," she replied. "What's up, Ogawa-kun, calling at a time like this?" Maya looked at the time and found it was still seven o'clock.

"That must have sounded stupid…" Maya thought to herself. Then she remembered.

"Oh yeah," Maya began. "About tomorrow's practice match, I don't think I can be there."

There was a pause.

"I mean, I can probably participate from here, but…"

"About that," Karl cut her off. "I think I have a solution."

Maya smiled. Why did it sound like Karl was embarrassed about this? Hmm…

"Okay," Maya replied. "I'll see you then."

She threw the phone, and herself, onto the bed.

"Nah," Maya muttered to herself as she drifted off to sleep. "Can't be…"

* * *

Author's Notes: ... and she forgot her dinner. Derp.

Hey y'all, Karl the arty here. I have no idea when I can upload the next chapter. BUT, until I do, enjoy what crap I have already splurged onto the screen.

See you in the next chapter ;)


	4. Chapter 4

"…"

"…"

"Why did I even suggest this arrangement…?" Karl muttered. Maya stretched her arms and nearly hit Karl in the face.

"Oops, sorry," Maya apologized. Karl sighed. The car carrying them to Philadelphia ran over a bump, shaking the occupants inside. In front of him, Karl's mother slept in the passenger's seat while his father stared at the road, hands on the steering wheel.

"You know the plan, right?" Karl asked. Maya nodded.

"Yeah, I think," she replied.

XXXXX

"Alright guys," Karl addressed his teammates. "Remember; I am going to fight on the enemy side. This is to simulate your independent abilities. Don't hold back."

One of the team members cracked his knuckles.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "I've been waiting to kick your ass for a long time."

Karl sweat dropped at this statement.

The team separated, leaving Karl alone in the room. The atmosphere outside bustled with excitement.

Karl stretched his limbs, relieving his body of some stress.

"Now then," Karl said. "Let's get started."

XXXXX

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer exclaimed. The crowd in the gymnasium roared into applause. "I would now like to announce the beginning of the Live Fire Exercise between the Japanese Language School of Philadelphia and Emmaus High School!"

The crowd roared. Maya and the rest of the team looked around the gymnasium, slightly awed at the sight.

"Think this will be a tough fight?" one of the members asked. "With Karl on the other team and all."

Another shrugged.

"We'll never know," said he.

"Right then," said the first. "Let's go."

The five stepped forward into the gym, accompanied by more cheers. Karl and the JLSP team stepped forward as well.

"You lot ready?" Karl asked. Maya and the others nodded.

Karl and Maya shook hands, as representatives of each team, before turning around and leading the teams to their respective rooms.

Within these rooms sat a number of computers, one per player. Maya sat down at the computer labeled "#1" and logged into her account. As the match would be a single annihilation match, she thought there would be little to no restrictions in terms of tanks.

She hovered the mouse over the SP IC, tier VII German light tank. Its 90mm autoloader proved to be a threat to other enemy light tanks, especially at tier VII. The limited capacity magazine, however, was the only hindrance in Maya's opinion.

Of course, the map selected was not one she remembered.

"Port…?" she said curiously, while the other team members muttered amongst themselves.

"I thought they took it off the roster."

"When did they bring it back?"

"What tank should we choose?"

"Everyone," Maya said, gaining everyone's attention. "Pick light tanks. You know what to do after that."

Everyone else nodded and selected light tanks. Maya sighed.

"Good thing everyone understands me now…" she said to herself.

The clock ticked down. Maya could hear the crowd in the gym cheering.

She decided to take a breath.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

The timer beeped.

"Go."

XXXXX

An IS-3 heavy tank slowly rolled through the central highway of the Port map, its turret swinging left and right. Suddenly, a hailstorm of shells smashed into the tank. Some bounced off harmlessly, while others punched through the tank's armor, shredding away its hit points.

Before long, the tank exploded.

Karl shook his head at the performance of his temporary teammate.

"Some people…" he muttered. "Two! Take Four with you; flank around the west side!"

"Got it!" Two replied. Two tanks, a T-50 and an LTTB, turned around and headed towards the urban area in the west.

"Five!" Karl ordered. "Cover the bridge! Here they come!"

"Affirmative!" Five replied, positioning his ISU-152 in a sniping nest as he did so. "But they're going to come at us in light tanks, right? I won't be able to survive for long!"

"Don't worry; I'll try to cover you," Karl replied. "The only thing you have to worry about is that T49 of theirs."

Suddenly, a number of shots sailed over the bridge, narrowly missing the destroyed IS-3.

"Here they come!"

XXXXX

"All right guys!" Colby, Maya's team's #2, exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Maya nearly joined in on the charge, if it weren't for the fact that she felt something was wrong with this situation.

"You two take the planned route. I need to check something," she said. Devon, the team's #3, rolled his eyes.

"Suit yourself," said he. "C'mon, let's go."

Three tanks, a T-54 lightweight, a Chaffee, and a VK2801, rushed over the bridge towards the enemy. Meanwhile, Maya's SP IC turned towards the west.

"Michael," she called. "Cover the attacking lights. My guess is that Karl has set up an ambush for us."

"Got it," Michael, the team's #5, replied.

Suddenly an explosion echoed from the bridge.

"Fuck!" Devon exclaimed. "That was a big one!"

"Where is it!?" Alexandra, the team's #4, yelled.

"I have no fucking idea!" Colby replied, obviously scared of the shot which shredded more than two thirds of his health.

"Hurry up and spot him!" Michael exclaimed, focusing on the battle area with his SU-14-2 artillery.

"Wait!" Alexandra exclaimed. "I found-!"

Her Chaffee violently exploded, sending its turret flying into the air.

XXXXX

"Got one!" Six exclaimed before realigning his barrel on another target. "Did you see that, One!? I got a kill!"

"Six!" Karl exclaimed. "Fall back! They have an arty!"

"Wait what!?" Six managed, before violently exploding as his ammunition rack detonated from an artillery shell.

Karl raised his eyebrows in slight amazement.

"Impressive," said he. "Landing a shot so perfectly. Guess I have to do something."

He then noticed the low health T-54 lightweight and VK2801. Karl licked his lips.

"But first…"

XXXXX

"I knew it!" Maya exclaimed as she opened fire at the enemy's T-50 and LTTB. The enemies scattered to the side, each entering a separate street.

Maya, however, already had her eyes on an enemy. She zoomed towards a corner to find an 85mm barrel pointing in her direction.

"Got you!" Four exclaimed. He clicked on the trigger.

Maya smashed her keyboard's space bar and 'A' key, skillfully dodging the enemy's shot with a well-executed drift.

She immediately emptied an entire magazine into the LTTB before doing another drift around the now exploding light tank.

Maya sighed as she rounded another corner.

"Now for the reload…"

XXXXX

An AMX ELC suddenly burst out in front of Colby and Devon, firing a shot into Colby's T-54 lightweight before dodging a shot from Devon's VK.

"That drifting!" Colby exclaimed, now spectating the battle from Devon's point of view. "It's you, isn't it Karl!?"

"What!?" Karl replied on the open channel. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY EUROBEAT!"

Seconds later, Devon fired another shot at Karl's ELC, who drifted out of the shot's path just in time.

A familiar clicking noise echoed in Karl's headset. Karl punched a 90mm shell into the VK2801 before drifting laps around the larger light tank.

Finally, the distinctive clicking of the reloaded gun sounded, and Karl punched another 90mm shell into the VK; this time the ELC drove off as the VK exploded.

"Right," he said to himself. "Time to deal with that arty."

XXXXX

The T-50 narrowly avoided Maya's shot before returning fire with his 47mm gun. However, the shells merely glanced off the heavily angled armor as Maya drifted past another corner.

"Holy crap this guy is good," Two muttered to himself before pursuing Maya around the corner. This time, however, a 90mm gun barrel tapped at his side as he did so.

Two's eyes opened wide.

"What the-!?"

The T-50 exploded violently as Maya punched three 90mm shells into the other light tank.

Maya wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve.

"You guys all right!?" she asked. The only responses she received were "nope," "I died," and "Karl got me."

Maya could not help but sigh at this.

"Michael," she called. "You good?"

"So far, yeah," Michael replied. "I may or may not need to- Fuck! I've been spotted!"  
A 90mm shell punched through the side of the SPG as an AMX ELC burst into the open.

"Surprise!" Karl exclaimed. "Anti-Artillery brigade coming through!"

Another 90mm shell punched through the poor SPG as Michael struggled to aim his gun at the small tank.

"STOP! DRIFTING! EVERYWHERE!" he exclaimed, before firing a shot at Karl which nearly blew off his tracks.

"How about 'no?'" Karl replied as he punched another shell into the SPG, this time making it explode into a column of flame.

A 90mm shell landed in the ground next to Karl; this time it did not belong to him.

Karl could not help but smile.

"よっ！ (Yo!)" Karl said. "調子はどうだ？ (How you doing?)"

Maya scoffed at Karl's statement.

"意外と調子良かったよ、カールが来るまでは。(I was actually feeling pretty good, until you showed up,)" Maya replied.

Karl sighed at Maya's reply.

"そう冷たく言うなよ…俺たちは楽しみに来たんだぜ。(Don't act so cold… We came here to have fun, you know,)" Karl said.

A 90mm shell sailed past Maya's SP IC, landing a few centimeters behind her.

"それより、 (More than that,)" Karl said. "そろそろ終わらせないか？ギャラリーを盛り上げないと。(How about we put an end to this? We need to make the audience excited.)"

Maya smiled.

"そりゃそうね。(You got that right,)" she said. "悪いけどこの勝利、あんたには渡さない！ (I'm sorry but, I'm not letting you have this victory!)"

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm back! :D

Anyways, please enjoy this chapter that I wrote in an airplane. See you guys in the next one.

Please leave a review. It motivates me to write more.

-SPSH Karl


	5. Chapter 5

A 90mm shell zipped past Maya's SP IC. She gritted her teeth as she attempted to line up a shot on Karl's ELC. Maya's efforts ended in futility, however, and her three shots barely sailed over the smaller French tank.

Karl smiled as he heard the distinctive clicking of the reload indicator.

He zipped immediately towards the nearest cluster of buildings, barely avoiding another 90mm from the German light tank. As the SP IC skidded around the corner in hot pursuit, and the Eurobeat pounded in his ears, Karl's smile grew even wider. As he mashed the space-bar, and then the 'a' and 's' keys, he envisioned himself in an enclosed space, like some sort of cockpit. He imagined himself jamming one joystick back, another forward, as he adjusted the pedals under him. Once the tank spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, he stomped on the clutch before shifting the tank into reverse. The glowing reticle glowed as it lined up with his target. Karl then pulled the trigger.

Of course, none of that was actually happening; it all took place in Karl's head. However, it is what he felt like doing while he mashed all those keys on his keyboard.

Coincidentally, Maya had something similar occur.

Upon seeing the ELC's 90mm barrel point in her direction, she pulled both joysticks back, adjusted her pedals, and skidded out of the way of the 90mm shell. She then lined up the crosshairs of her own 90mm and fired away.

The ELC suddenly rounded a corner, Maya's three shells harmlessly passing by where Karl once was. He immediately headed for the bridge in the center of the map before spinning once again, firing a shot in Maya's general direction.

Karl's shell missed, of course, but that did not stop Maya from pursuing him further down the bridge. Suddenly, Karl made a sharp right turn, in the middle of the bridge, and rocketed over the side.

The crowd gasped at this action.

However, the ELC landed on a nearby train car before descending to the train tracks down below. He had only taken one point of damage.

"Spall liner and enhanced suspension," he said to himself, before turning around to witness Maya also jumping off of the bridge.

She unfortunately missed the train car, but she still survived.

The SP IC's tracks however, did not.

"Got you!" Karl exclaimed, and fired his shot. The shot struck home, but did only half the damage it should have done.

Karl gritted his teeth in frustration as he avoided Maya's retaliatory volley.

Maya smiled as the distinctive clicking of the tracks repairing themselves echoed over her headphones.

The two then rolled into the hilly and, excluding a number of concrete tubes and tank wreckages, coverless area of the map. Karl's ELC swung around to take another potshot at Maya's SP IC. Maya casually swung by the shell before firing the last round in the magazine.

Both tanks swung around a nearby wreckage before firing on each other. Both shots missed but Maya still had two rounds left. She let both fly in Karl's direction as the ELC attempted to retreat towards the city.

The last shell of the volley found its mark, and the ELC skidded to a halt as its tracks were destroyed.

"Yes!" Maya exclaimed to herself, before lining up her final shot.

Unfortunately for her, fate seemed to be playing tricks on everyone because the ELC's tracks suddenly clicked back together and Maya found herself looking down the barrel of a 90mm gun.

Then, just in time, Karl's Eurobeat album finished its last song.

"Repair kits," Karl said, before pulling the trigger.

XXXXX

The car ride back to Philadelphia was not filled with excited conversations of the aforementioned combat sequence, against Karl's father's expectations. Instead, the car found itself filled with a peaceful silence, with only the humming of the car's engine echoing in the background.

Ken Ogawa took a quick glance at his wife, who just woke up from a brief nap, before returning his attention to the road ahead of him.

"Aww," said he, glancing at his rearview mirror as he did so. "They're leaning on each other. How cute."

He smiled as his wife giggled at the statement.

XXXXX

The next day…

The chirping of birds echoed from outside as Maya opened her eyes. She had gotten quite familiar with the ceiling above her by now, and could probably point every single stain and crack if she tried.

Maya slowly got out of bed and walked over to the nearest window, which she slowly opened. The sunshine from outside the apartment immediately the bathed the room in a radiant glow.

She sighed.

What an unexpected turn of events.

So much had happened since she arrived here, and all in such a small amount of time. She remembered that time when she first stepped off of the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Everything felt alien; no one understood her and she understood no one. Things changed, of course, but it all changed for the better when the school year started.

Maya had to admit, it took some time to get used to this September start date.

Another memory surfaced, this time from the first day of school, when she made her first friend in the United States.

She smiled.

Maya didn't feel like taking a quick shower or anything at the moment. No homework had been assigned for the weekend.

She stretched.

Perhaps she should record a song, she had not uploaded one in some time.

Maya walked over to her computer, her microphone and violin case already laid out on the desk. She gently flicked the latches on the case open before slowly opening the case and pulling out her violin. A gentle tap on her computer's trackpad brought the screen to life, prompting Maya to log in. Her fingers danced along the keyboard, typing her password in the process, before moving to tune her violin.

Once she finished with her usual routine, Maya found an instrumental rendition of a song she wished to sing. Not only did she find the art for the music video to be beautiful (Maya really wished she was good at drawing), but also found the lyrics somewhat nostalgic, as if it reminded her of someone.

Maya softly smiled as she brought her bow to her violin, and the melody began to play.

* * *

Author's notes: Eurobeat, Vocaloid, and tanks. What more can you wish for?

Hey guys, Karl the Arty here. I'm back again with this story. After rereading this story from its beginning, I can't help but feel really old all of a sudden. I started this particular fic during my sophomore year of high school, and it was meant to reflect my ideal junior year. Now, as a senior in high school, it all seems silly, as my junior year went completely differently.

#foreveralone XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want me to write more, please don't hesitate to drop a review in the review box below. It motivates me to write more.

Thanks :D

-SPSH Karl


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